Thursday, May 13, 2010.
Assalamualaikum everyone. Good to see you again.
Perhaps you think I have been hibernating..again? (smiles thinly) Although I do do that many times a day, well..this week has not been so. At least, not so much..(haha)
I am..actually at a loss.
I am lost for words..
I don't actually know how best to write about this. It's true. My words.. are gone. I..really don't know what to make of this.
This.
"Indonesian Muslims burn under construction Christian centre down"
Hundreds of people calling themselves the Muslim Community of the Puncak Route last week burned buildings under construction belonging to a Christian organization in West Java Province.
Compass Direct News
Thursday, 6 May 2010, 9:11 (EST)
And this.
"Terrorism charge for NY suspect"
US prosecutors have charged the man accused of trying to explode a car bomb in New York's Times Square with five counts.
Eric Holder, the US attorney general, said that Faisal Shahzad, a US citizen of Pakistani origin, had admitted his role in the attempted bombing and was providing valuable information to interrogators.
The charges include terrorism and trying to explode a weapon of mass destruction.
Shahzad also admitted receiving bomb-making training in Pakistan, US prosecutors said on Tuesday.
He returned from Pakistan in February and told authorities he spent five months there visiting his parents, according to the criminal complaint filed in US District Court in New York...
Or this.
"Deaths in Baghdad car bomb"
Seven people have been killed and 22 injured in a car bomb attack in Baghdad's Shia neighbourhood of Sadr City, police and sources at the Iraqi interior ministry said.
The blast in the Iraqi capital on Wednesday evening occured near a popular cafe where young people were gathered, police said.
The strike comes two days after a spateof(a large number or amount or extent) attacks across the countrykilled more than 125 people.
Attacks in Iraq have been on the rise in recent months, particularly in Baghdad, after comparative calm in 2008 and 2009.
The attacks are believed to be orchestrated by the al-Qaeda in Iraq group, which security forces say have suffered significant setbacks this year due to the killing and capture of many of their leaders.
Analysts say the group is trying to send a message to Iraqi security forces and the US military in the country that the group is still strong and capable of launching lethal attacks across Iraq.
These..am I permitted to say "life episodes"? These, life episodes..has rendered (caused me to become) speechless.
And just as my speech 'is gone'..so is my will. And so are my tears..I don't have them anymore.
They're just..gone. I don't know where they went. I just felt..lifeless. I hung my head.
I'm ashamed. I can only hold my head in my hand. I can only whisper to Allah..
"Ya Rabb..! How can this be stopped? How..? How Allah..How.."
I can only watch as the news readers continue to brief the world of the latest "life episodes". Of the latest muslim life episodes. What the muslims' lives look like. What muslims are doing...
What muslims are doing..
WHAT ARE MUSLIMS DOING??????????
I'm lucky this keyboard doesn't smash to pieces. Because I'm hitting the keys so hard, I almost thought it would break. But I have to hold all these.. frustrations. So that I can at least finish writing this piece.
I hold my head in my hand again.
I'm sorry..I have a bad case of speechlessness right now.
It's a good thing I'm writing. At least alphabets can still form.
Ya Allah. I don't to who else to turn. I'm.. lost. What can be done to stop this? To reverse this?
Stop what? In case you're still in your deep slumber, let me tell you. Allow me to shake you up of the current events.
The images. The portrayal of Islam by those who claim to bear witness that there is no God but Allah Taala and Muhammad SAW is His messenger! By none other than muslims themselves.
By none other than ourselves. That's right. You and me. Me and you. All of us.
My hand supports my head again. I guess my head will need a crutch(tongkat) for a while.
Islam..is in really bad shape right now. I'm not going to lie. I can't lie even if I wanted to. It's everywhere. If you ask anyone who does not believe in Allah, "what do you think about Islam?" you'll probably get an angry face staring at you. If not angry, then the face is probably of a scared one.
ISLAM=TERRORISM. Full stop. That's it. That's the image that we're giving them.
Yes, we. Who else? Ask yourselves..who else?
Muhammad? Muhammad??????
Muhammad...SAW, never. never. NEVER thought muslims terrorism. NEVER. He never did. What did he thought?
Persaudaraan. Ukhuwah. Brotherhood. Or have we forgotten that?
We most certainly have. We dont give a damn what's going on beside the rich soils of our own home! We don't know anything else besides the harmonious way of life that WE HAVE! We only care what WE HAVE..what WE WANT! We know nothing of the pain..the lack of food and water..the homeless brothers on other continents of this Ardh!
Just how many of us care? Just how many of us UNDERSTAND what is it they're going through?
How..how can we possibly understand? We have never felt it ourselves. We ate at least..at least 3 times a day. and they are full meals. Full, nutritious meals. Our wardrobe is full to the brim with beautiful, colourful, clothing, not to mention expensive jewellery on that dresser. We have a place to call home. A home with a roof.
What do our brothers..and sisters have? Oh, they have a roof too.. a roof of stars! And when it rains, their roofs change into water! That's fantastic right? Oh yeah, fantastic, their roofs cover the whole of earth..I guess we can share too??
I bet..no wait, I don't bet. I suppose, if I could ever shake hands with another muslimah, in the Africa perhaps, would I feel their hands? Or will I only hold their skinny bones in my own plump, healthy one? If I could ever hug them..will I hug a warm body, or a cold skin hanging on their skeletons?
While some are impoverished in many ways, other muslims continue to express extreme violence everywhere..everywhere there is land. And...another faction of muslims..continue to sit by idly and do nothing. That's you and me.
Each of these 3 factions...are a dissapointment. Why?
Well, first of all, because..as the name so clearly indicate, they are factions. This is the number one problem and mistake that they (we) have yet to resolve. And why are factions a problem?
Let me just give a simple analogy. Do you know machines? No, not transformers. Well, at least the way they work. Well, from what I know (which is very limited) most machines work is gear system. You know, a gear. It is round and have unique 'teeth' all along the perimeter. Each gear is unique and comes in many sizes.
Imagine all these factions are gears. So we have three..or possibly more gears in today's muslim community. The key to operating the big machine, to use its function, is that the gears have to slide into each other'e teeth and rotate together. When one gear starts to rotate, the second one will follow..and the next one..and the next. The collective motions of these once single and separate gears are now quite powerful to operate the machine, let's say a clock. Then the clock can successfully do its job/function-tell time.
Where the heck am I going with this? This is the heck..sorry. The purpose.
We. are individual gears right now. If even one of us starts to rotate in the right direction, the productive and positive direction, others will follow. Then we will be united, becoming the one big machinery; one ummah.
Only then will we be able to carry out our function as one ummah;
amar makruf nahi mungkar (encourage doing good, preventing from doing bad things)
We cannot function alone. Individually. Because we have already done that..and we are still continuing to do that. And look at us know. This is the result of rotating alone..you generate nothing and you waste energy for it. And you caused even more misunderstanding of the true Islam.
NOTHING good comes out of rotating alone. NOTHING good comes from division and bickering amongst ourselves. We become easy pickings.(buruan yg mudah) We are the rats, and Islam's enemy is the eagle.
What? You don't like being called a rat? Then get your big butt of that bed and do something!
phew..that's harsh. It is time for harshness. Because we have been so coddled up(dimanjakan) in the luxurious materialistic world, that it is time for some harder voices. Hard does not mean I'm a hardliner or extremists some say. I am not. The only thing I wish for this ummah is only one; I only wish it will become whole again. I wish the individual gears would gear up together and make this ummah machinery going again.
It's what the first generation of mukminin and mukminat (believers) would also wish for, I believe. It is also what Rasulullah SAW would have wanted so much...beyond anything else. That, is what I strongly believe.
But wishing alone is not enough. In fact, muslims aren't suppose to wish. But Doa' (pray) is what is thought.
Solat 5 times a day is what is thought.
Giving salam to a person you know, or a stranger is also what is thought.
Visiting your neighbours, the sick, helping the community in social work is what is thought.
Love your brother more than the love for your family, even your self, is what is thought. The bonds of ukhuwah (brotherhood in Islam) is what is thought.
Not violence. Not hatred. Not murder.
Not burning down churches, simply because you suspect they are building a church therefore violating their agreement with the local muslim authority.
Not bombing New York for whatever reason you believe is right. Is the reason with accordance with what Muhammad originally thought to his ummah? It certainly doesn't seem so, because Muhammad SAW will not approve such actions as jihad, in my belief, because it sparks more hatred and endangers the muslim American-Pakistani community living there. (I'm unsure if Faisal Shahzad is a muslim or not, because I could not find religious info on al-Jazeera. But he is an American citizen of Pakistani origin. There is a probability he is a muslim, but then again there is also a possibility he is not. I am deeply sorry if my info is misleading, please correct me.)
And the never ending bombings in Iraq. This is something I can never understand.
I can't understand how a group of well, what looks like extreme Islamic movement, would have the heart to kill their own defenseless brothers on the streets? What are the al-Qaeda hoping to achieve by their actions? If to further stain Islam's image in the eyes of non-believers, then they have succeded. So, why won't they stop? I hate to think they enjoy murdering their own brothers..even if they are extremists. If they still have heart and still believe in Allah, they should stop. Enough. You are not going to scare the enemies that way. And perhaps they are fighting the wrong enemies. Not the enemy soldiers in the battle field, but the ones hiding in the shadows, perhaps even in their own camp. Allah Taala knows the truth.
As for me. As for us. The 'educated' generation. We also represent another faction in the ummah today. If we continue to do nothing, then the outcome is precisely; nothing. NOTHING DONE=NOTHING GAINED. Simple principle don't you think?
We have some advantage over most muslims of our age today. We have education. And that, my friend, is a most valuable advantage. Make no mistake.
And so, what do we do with this advantage? We use it. We help others to get the same benefit as well. First in our closest community, then perhaps, if time permits, to other impoverished muslim countries. Perhaps.
"A human is just like any other animal, if not for his ability to learn. And the best lesson is to learn from his mistakes of the past."
Wallahu`alam.
